HerConstantLove and HappinessThatEvery person who meets herCan’t help butAccept.

My best friend,My love,MyEverything.

"Cicily" by Megan Barnes

Cicily didn’t have many friends. In fact, there were maybe two people she trusted enough to consider them ‘friends’. It wasn’t that she wasn’t kind, or pretty, or smart. She was all of those things. But Cicily was also a psychic.

She could just look at someone and know exactly what they were thinking. She knew which people had ulterior motives, who had false intentions, and who were bad in general. That made it very hard to make friends when she knew everyone’s deepest thoughts.

But then someone new showed up.

Arion transferred into her marine biology class one warm spring morning, which was the only thing that drew her attention from her book. He had long dark hair and neon blue eyes, and perfectly straight white teeth that flashed as he smiled. Cicily’s red-painted lips parted softly, lost in stunned awe, but the exact second she dropped her guard, the thoughts of everyone in the classroom bombarded her mind like rocks from a slingshot.

He’s so attractive!

He’s built like a tank—look at those shoulders!

Those chiseled good looks—like a supermodel!

Cicily let out a tiny cry and her hands flew to her ears, trying to block them out. Too many strangers’ thoughts at once often gave her migraines.

While she was trying to control the stem of screaming thoughts, she missed the teacher introducing Arion to the class, and him speaking. By the time she had shut her mind down again, he was pulling out the chair of the desk next to her and sitting down. His blue eyes landed on her, and she straightened, hiding behind her thick brown curls to disguise her flaming face.

“Hi,” he said softly but kindly. “My name is Arion. What’s yours?” He pronounced it ‘Ay-ree-ahn’.

“My friends call me Cicily,” she murmured softly, dragging her notebook out of her shoulder bag, as well as her navy blue ink pen.

“Cicily,” he said to himself. “If I’m correct—the blind patron saint of music, St. Cecilie.”

Cicily blushed. “I’m not sure,” she mumbled shyly, flipping to a blank page and dating the top. I’m anything but blind…

She felt his gaze on her for a little bit longer before he turned away. Taking this chance, she opened her mind and reached for Arion’s. But almost as soon as she started to search, it was like a wall slammed down, forcing her out. Startled, she pulled back and turned to look at him. His eyes met hers and he smiled kindly.

I’ve never met somebody I can’t read, she thought in surprise. How do I know what he’s like if I can’t see though him?

She was walking out of the classroom after seventh period government when someone called her name. She stopped and turned.

Arion was walking down the hallway towards her. “Hey, Cicily,” he greeted as he approached her. “I was wondering—since I’m new to town, I’ve never been around. So I was thinking—maybe you and I could hit the town tonight?”

Suspicion rose in her chest. “Are you asking me out on a date?” she asked.

He smiled and chuckled lightly. “I suppose I am, if you want to look at it that way.”

Cicily looked down at her hands, which were holding the strap of her messenger bag. An intriguing notion, in its own way. She shrugged. “I have to see what I’m doing.”

“Okay.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, smoothing it out before he handed it to her. “Ring me up, ‘kay?”

She took the small piece of paper and unfolded it. Scrawled in loopy handwriting, it said Arion Lightwood – Call me if you want, with a set of ten numbers scribbled beneath it.

“Hey—Arion?” she began, looking up—but he had already gone.

That afternoon, Cicily lay back on her bed and clutched her black fringe throw pillow to her chest. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to call him—but how did she know what he was like? How did she know that he didn’t have any bad intentions?

There was a knock on her door that startled her out of her thought train. Rolling over onto her belly, she buried her face into her comforter and shouted, “Go away!”

Instead, the door opened and a male voice said, “What’s wrong, Chirp?”

When she didn’t answer, her brother Zack came over and sat on the bed behind her. He looked like her physically, with a mess of thick brown hair and piercing green eyes, but he took after their father in height and build. She was smaller and almost fragile-looking next to his wide, muscular build.

He called her Chirp because he discovered at a young age that when Cicily laughed hard enough, she stopped making noise until she tried to breathe, and her breaths came out as high-pitched, squeaky chirps.

“There’s a new guy and I can’t read him,” she mumbled into her blanket. “And he wants to go on a date but it’s hard to decide since I can’t read him. And I don’t want to go if I’m going to make a mistake.”

He covered his mouth to hide the remains of his smile. “I’m sorry, Chirp, I don’t mean to laugh. But you sounded so funny just now...” He regained his composure and then turned to look her in the eye, smiling his kind big-brother-smile. “You don’t want to go because you can’t read his mind?”

She nodded.

“Well...then, maybe this will be good for you.” He sat back on his hands. “You know, normal people take chances. Not everyone can read minds like you can.” Zack reached forward and toyed with one of her curls. “Maybe, Cicily, you’ll just have to get to know him like an average teenager. And when you do that, something beautiful might just come from it.”

“Have you been waiting long?”

Arion was wearing a pair of loose cargo shorts with a black leather belt through the waist, black Converse high-tops, and a t-shirt that had random designs and patterns on it that Cicily didn’t understand.

“No,” she lied, standing up. She had psyched herself out so much, going back and forth between whether or not to call him, that she had gone out to the park and sat there for half an hour before she had actually called. Then she had waited for another hour until he showed up. But she wasn’t about to say that.

Arion smiled and put his hands in his pockets. “I’m glad, I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting.” Then he looked around. “This part of town is pretty. Do you come here often?”

No. “Every now and then,” she murmured. “So where do you want to go first?”

“I don’t know, remember, I’m new! I’ve never been around town,” he said, and then chuckled. She turned bright red and stared at her sandaled feet, clenching her hands around the hem of her sundress.

She turned and walked off. His long stride kept up easily. They made small talk as they headed across town, and made it to the diner in a relatively short time. She reached out to open the door, but he darted in front of her and grasped the handle before she did, pulling it open. Cicily was startled, and looked up at him. Arion stood back and jokingly bowed her in, smiling kindly.

For the first time, she picked up one fragment of a thought—for a pretty girl—and she turned bright red. His eyes sparkled as he looked at her, and she quickly hurried in.

It was a quaint little place, with red and black tables and chairs, and only a few people. The rich smell of food made Cicily’s stomach roar in anticipation.

“This is cute!” Arion said, coming up to stand beside her. “Do you want to go ahead and sit down? I’ll order us our food.”

Just then some guy went walking by with a tray. There was a grilled sandwich on it, along with a Caesar salad and fries. The smell bombarded her. Her eyes lit up. That looks delicious.

Arion patted her shoulder, jerking her back to the present. “Go and sit down,” he repeated. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it.”

She murmured consent and picked a table near a window, cast in sunlight. She sat down on the warm chair, and let her thoughts drift and swirl in strange, nonsensical patterns. She eventually got bored with her own thoughts and began to pick up on others’.

I can’t wait for him to know, thought a young woman at a nearby table, sitting across from her fiancé, but I don’t know if it’s the time or place to tell him I’m pregnant...

I wonder if my friends will want to go to the mall this weekend, was a young girl sitting at a 2-seater table by herself.

There was a punk boy at a corner table with headphones on, whose mind was filled with blaring rock music and random blurbs. That made Cicily pull back and remember why she hated knowing others’ thoughts.

Arion set a tray down in front of her, making her jump so badly she knocked her knees on the bottom of the table, nearly knocking over the salt and pepper shakers.

“Dozing off?” he teased lightly. “Here’s your food.”

He had a double cheeseburger with bacon, fries, and a milkshake. He had gotten her the grilled sandwich, salad, and fries combo she had secretly craved.

“How did you—?” she stammered.

Arion sat down and his cheeks turned pink. “W-Well—I’m sorry, but I haven’t learned how to control myself yet.”

Cicily stared. “What?”

He looked up at her. “You—I thought—” His face went darker. “I thought you knew.”

“You’re seriously confusing me.”

Arion poked a fry into his mouth. “I’m a psychic. Like you.”

The floor under her feet tipped. She had never heard of any other psychics, especially around her. She suddenly felt dizzy, like she was falling. That explained why she couldn’t read him--he knew how to barricade his thoughts. Her mind was roaring at a mile a second.

Arion raised a hand and pressed it over his ear, flinching. “Please stop, you’ll give me a migraine...”

“Do you not know how to block thoughts?” she asked, startled. I thought everyone did. —Oops. “Sorry.”

“Do...Do you? Could you teach me?” He seemed mortified. “I get constant migraines from others’ thoughts, and I always have to take medicine for them. I’ve been hospitalized for them before because they’ve gotten so bad...”

I’ve been in that boat. “Don’t worry, it’s not hard. I can teach you.”

I think Zack was right, she thought, sucking at her vanilla milkshake. I think getting to know someone without using my powers is...pretty awesome. I think...that this is the start of something absolutely gorgeous. Something new and dangerous, yes...but exhilarating. I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

That thought slipped into Arion’s mind, and his heart fluttered. I hope so. I really hope so.